Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Dating--Again


I hear from my friends that the dating scene is no more fun now, in fact, much worse, than our angst-ridden teen times. Holy cow!

And to hear some tell it, it is much, much worse. There is still the appearance-thing, the confidence-thing, will-he-call-me thing, and the how/when-do-we-escalate-this thing. Those anxieties are givens at any age. But for adults, it’s also complicated by the who-pays-for-what thing and who-gets-the-door thing. Honest.

When Lil’ Bro began dating again after his wife died, we had many a talk. His date wanted to pay sometimes. She wanted to open her own door if she happened to be there first. Stuff like that. He had some out-moded notion (well, he hadn’t dated for 40 years) that guys were supposed to do it all. I told him it was the 21st century and to get with the program.

Sure, it’s nice to open the door of the restaurant, but not if it’s awkward reaching around and nearly crushing her to get to it first. Let her open the damn door. She’s not that delicate, I hope. I open the door if I get there first, and then let the other person--male, female, indeterminate--go through. That is common sense. And polite.

Same with paying. Why, why, why should guys always have to fork over the cash? Especially with women of a certain age (ahem, my friends, I mean). They’ve got enough money to pay for their own food. So splitting the cost or alternating paying makes perfect sense. It also has the benefit of signaling that the woman is not for sale. Getting between my legs is going to cost more than dinner, Fella.

An interesting thing about all this is that the woman must initiate the discussion about date responsibilities. Sadly, if a guy says, “You pay tonight”, women, paradoxically, think he’s being cheap. No, we have to do it because we are weird that way.

Friday, October 25, 2013

Sex for Sale, Book Two in the "Sex Sells" Trilogy


I have been working on my erotic romance, Sex for Sale (tentative title), the sequel to Streetwalker. It will be the second book of the trilogy, “Sex Sells”. My plan is to have it off to my editor, Sascha Illyvich at Sizzler Editions before the clock tolls a new year.

I am finding it hard to limit this book. I want so much to happen to set up Book 3, but I know I am being unrealistic. I should just bite the bullet (Do you love the cliché, Sascha?) and move a bunch of stuff to book three. Or not?

Here are the 10 key events for Sex for Sale. Please chime in if you have ideas for other complications/characters/plot lines. The more the merrier (Just for you, Sascha)!

1) Carrie and Harlan have settled into a conjugal-sans-legal commitment, new for both of them.

2) Carrie’s mother shows up and Carrie deals with her baggage from childhood.

3) Harlan has withdrawn more and more from the whore house business to focus on his photography, a talent Carrie encouraged him to develop, but Carrie resents having to carry (!) the business on her own.

4) Carrie develops new products and new delivery modes which Harlan tries to squelch. They include DikMilch, a skin cream made from cum; art gallery with a restaurant with prurient foods; on-line services while clearing out the in-house services, etc.

5) Bored and feeling neglected, Carrie takes up with a fellow who is an undercover Vice cop. She inadvertently implicates Harlan and herself in criminal activity.

6) Laurel comes back into their lives. She tries to snare Harlan but is rejected after an aborted sexual encounter. She turns to the D.A. and makes a plea bargain deal that implicates Harlan but clears her.

7) Laurel engages in risky sex play leading to her death; Harlan is a major
suspect.

8) Harlan is arrested. His mother is gravely ill. His sister tells him to come clean to mom about his work so he can move on with his life and resolve his commitment and sexual issues.

9) Harlan is cleared of Laurel’s death.

10) Carrie wants more than Harlan does from their relationship, but he is inching toward marriage. Meanwhile, Carrie and Harlan recommit to their relationship and turn to legal ways to make money using sex. They sell their brownstones and buy a condo overlooking Central Park.

Would you read a story like this? What’s missing? Do you believe a sex addict and a prostitute can make a go of it? Stay tuned!